European Future Energy Forum features roundtable discussions.
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Press Release Summary:
Held on June 9-11, European Future Energy Forum included roundtable discussions pertaining to hydrogen and fuel cells. Session chaired by Randy Dey from CCS Global Group discussed international cooperation in development of regulations, codes, and standards on hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. It provided overview of importance of "one product, one standard, one test," and offered introduction to ISO standards published and under development specific to hydrogen energy technologies.
Original Press Release:
European Future Energy Forum: Roundtable Report
Roundtable on Advancing commercialization of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell technologies, a part of the new Energy mix, through international cooperation of Regulations, Codes and Standards (RCS)
Randy Dey, The CCS Global Group Inc.
The European Future Energy Forum was held on 9-11 June 2009 in Balboa, Spain. As part of this event, there were a few roundtable discussions pertaining to hydrogen and fuel cells. Only one was related directly to hydrogen standards, and was chaired by Randy Dey from the CCS Global Group. The session was titled, Advancing commercialization of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell technologies, a part of the new Energy mix, through international cooperation of Regulations, Codes and Standards, and discussed the importance of creating a climate of international cooperation in the development of regulations, codes and standards on hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.
Advancing commercialization of Hydrogen and Fuel Cell technologies, a part of the Energy mix, through International Cooperation on Regulations, Codes and Standards (197Kb PDF)
Since most attendees from this event are active in renewable energy technologies and investments and were therefore unfamiliar with hydrogen standards, the session provided an excellent overview of the importance of "one product, one standard, one test," and was a useful first introduction to the ISO standards published and under development specific to hydrogen energy technologies.
The 2009 European Future Energy Forum has clearly shown that the world is steadily moving into the post-fossil fuel age and that this new energy age will comprise of a number of energy solutions. Unfortunately, even though the storage of renewable energies was identified as an important challenge by the participants, hydrogen was not presented as one of the solutions. It was noted at the Roundtable that there was an opportunity to discuss how hydrogen can be used to generate transportation fuel, reliable power and distributed energy from renewable energies. It is clear that the hydrogen and fuel cell industry will have to work harder to get the message across and overcome the myth that the commercialization of these new technologies is still not yet a couple of decades away starting with the early market products.
On the RCS front, the result of this Roundtable was very much in line with the general consensus that emanated from the European Future Energy Forum: The leadership of governments and industry have to work together to make it happen! During the forum, it was recognized that business as usual will not ensure that the energy paradigm shift happens in the timeframe that is needed to overcome the climate change challenges. During the Roundtable, it was agreed that business as usual that often results in market fragmentation due to the multitude of national/regional standards needs to be avoided and that the focus should instead be on cooperation towards the development of International Standards.
The participants to the Roundtable agreed that it was of the utmost importance that the leadership of governments and industry strive towards the ultimate goal of "One product, one standard, one test" that is so important to the large-scale deployment of these new technologies. It was recognized that the WTO instruments that are in place to remove non tariff barriers through the development of International standards at ISO and IEC should be fully supported by these stakeholders. The participants agreed that countries should be encouraged to contribute to the development of the ISO and IEC International Standards followed by the subsequent adoption of these standards when published. These countries should also encourage their regulatory bodies to recognize the value of the international consensus by referring to these International Standards in global or national regulations.
In the case of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, the importance of the work of ISO/TC 197 and IEC/TC 105 was stressed. The development of International Standards was strongly supported by the Roundtable group including the USA represented by Ms. Karen Hall on behalf of the US Department of Energy.
